TiagoIloriSanguineTiagoIlori We never had such a good shot at winning both the World Cup and Euros as we did over the last three years. Even the most extreme of Southgate’s backers would be annoyed at his game management there, especially after he made the exact same mistake against Croatia. Those games were when that midfield battle was lost and it seems to be a three man midfield that does it, if he can’t build the next few blocks and get us adaptable to games like this then he may as well hand in his resignation notice tomorrow morning. If he has ideas then great, I look forward to seeing them in action.
He’s got absolutely everything else to show he’s a top manager, the lack of good English managers shows we’re not going to get much better, I hope he doesn’t throw it all away.
He has ideas. That's why he's become the first England manager ever to make both a tournament semi-final and final, and he's done it consecutively. Immediacy can be for the playground. We're on to a good thing with Southgate as England manager. Personally I'd give him the job for as long as he wants it. Sadly the second we next lose a game, or if, say, we 'only' make the QFs in Qatar, his critics will cite it as 'proof' that he isn't up to it.
He’s done it consecutively but failed on the same hurdle, tried sitting back against Italy for 88 minutes which was suicidal, he needs to be more brave and not wait to make tactical adjustments until a goal has been scored- he needed to go 433 after how we started the second half. That was obvious for everyone to see.
If he beats the big dogs next year in Qatar then that alone should be enough to warrant him staying (Germany were no better than Denmark this tournament). Beat one of Argentina, Brazil, Italy and possibly Spain, France or Germany if they can get their act together. We can beat the near top teams where we are favourites (Germany, Denmark) so I just want to see progress.
Germany are a top team. They don't become shite just because we beat them. Remember at one point during the final group games we were playing each and every team in Germany's group. They weren't as 'poor' as people want to remember them.
Spain is an interesting one. The reason they weren't in our side of the knockout rounds is because they came second in their group to Sweden. Who lost to Ukraine. Who we hammered.
If you're waiting for an England manager who will 'progress' to regularly beating the best sides in the world (Southgate can boast away wins over Spain and Netherlands, of course), then you'll be waiting forever. People speak as if the other sides don't get a say in our results, too. We did get draws with Germany, Brazil and Italy ahead of the 2018 World Cup, and our 3-2 defeat in France was considered an excellent performance (I wonder if we'd take an expansive losing performance like that over a tighter draw or win?).
If the bar for Southgate's success is raised as high as many want it to be, it gets a bit silly.